Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies and a Giveaway from America's Test Kitchen

UPDATE: The giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered! Subscribe to the blog for future giveaways, contests and all-around food goodness.Hi friends! Want to win a new cookbook from some of my favorite food experts? Keep reading!

So here's what I like best about Cook's Country magazine: it's not fussy food. I don't have to go to specialty stores for the ingredients, I don't have to learn fancy-pants cooking techniques. This is what real people eat.

But it's also really good. So I'm excited that the folks at America's Test Kitchen sent me one of Cook's Country's latest books: Blue Ribbon Desserts. And I'm extra excited that one of you lovely readers will be getting one, too!

If you love classic desserts (and if you don't, let's talk), this is the cookbook for you. Vintage, heirloom, whatever you want to call them -- these recipes stand the test of time.

Think of this as part cookbook, part science lesson. For every recipe, you get a little bit of back story about the development of the recipe. I love learning about what worked and what didn't for a particular food formula. I think it makes me a better cook (and baker) overall.

You also get clear step-by-step instructions. And, perhaps the best feature: the book is spiral bound (inside a hardback outer cover) so it opens perfectly flat. No need to use clothes pins to keep the pages open. Not that I do that.

So I've got two things for you today: a recipe and a chance to win Blue Ribbon Desserts (or one of the two other books from ATK that I posted about on Sunday).

And now for the recipe. This one comes from the Bake Sale Cookies, Brownies and Bars chapter of Blue Ribbon Desserts.

Raspberry-Cream Cheese Brownies

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 c. sugar

1 large egg yolk

3/4 t. vanilla extract

For the brownies:

2/3 c. flour

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

8 T unsalted butter, cut into pieces

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/2 c. raspberry jam

1 1/4 c. sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch pan. Blend all of the filling ingredients together in a food processor.

For the brownies, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Microwave the butter and chocolate together in short intervals, stirring frequently, until melted. Whisk in 1/4 c. of the jam and let cool slightly. Add the sugar, eggs and vanilla to the chocolate mixture. Whisk in the flour mixture until no white streaks are left.

Microwave the remaining jam until just warm; stir until smooth. Scrape half of the brownie batter into the pan. Dollop the cheese filling over the batter and spread evenly. Dollop the jam on the cheese mixture and use the tip of a knife to swirl. Spread the remainder of the brownie batter over the top.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few dry crumbs -- about 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool, then cut. Refrigerate.

86 comments:

I found a link to your blog through the Test Kitchen's twitter. I also looove all the science America's Test Kitchen includes in all their recipes. So helpful to know the background. I would love their Light and Healthy cookbook!

Hi there - I just found your blog from the ATK tweet. I am intrigued about the Blue Ribbon Desserts Cookbook & would love to win one. And make/eat all the scrumptious desserts inside it! Yummmm. One of my favorite desserts from America's Test Kitchen is a cobbler made with yogurt in the 'cobbles', it is fantastic. Your Raspberry Cheesecake brownies look pretty great too. :)

I totally started to drool when I saw those brownies. I need to get an IV with that pumping straight into my blood stream. Wait, that would mean I wouldn't get to taste them. Scratch that, just give me a pan of 'em...no fork necessary. I saw the link via twitter but am following you via my blogger account. Desserts are my downfall, so I could use a Light and Healthy cookbook to balance things out! Find me on twitter: @n_cattleskin

You're turning me into an ATK junkie... ;) I just purchased their Slowcooker Revolution cookbook and we LOVE it. I really am excited about your new posts and the recipes you're sharing. I follow your blog through RSS feeder, though I usually check your blog regularly. I have been looking at the ATK's cookbooks and would love to have the Light and Healthy Cookbook. Love the posts - keep 'em coming. Love you!!

Hi! I found your link thru foodgawker.com, and am always interested in learning new recipes and hearing what others think of them, etc. I would be very interested in the Light & Healthy cookbook and can be reached at pamelinac@yahoo.com. Thanks!

NomNomNom I love ANYTHING with raspberries - they are hands down my favorite fruit! Mango is now a close second lol! I found your link thru ATK and have already added you to my feed! Trying to call hubby to see if we have everything on hand for them of if i need to stop at the store. YUM! Best Desserts if i win please !

Fellow triangle-area foodie here. Followed link posted by ATK tweet. May have to make those brownies this weekend but without the raspberry jam (not a fan of fruit and chocolate for some reason). Would love the Blue Ribbon Dessert cookbook! Following you on Twitter now (@davidrlee).

I follow ATK on facebook and just found your blog and am totally drooling - now you're in my Google Reader where you belong! Bring on the Blue Ribbon Desserts, add it to the list of things that will contribute to my early, gastronomically content death.

I absolutely love ATK and would love to have their Best One Dish Suppers book. Are you on twitter? I'm not a big poster, but I like to follow good posts. I have subscribed here using My Yahoo. My twitter name is @radolini6. Thanks!

I am working on opening a bakery and all my teaching comes from Americas Test Kitchen & Cooks Country. I grew up in the country and my Mom & Grandma baked everything from bread, pies, rolls, donuts etc. I moved to the city and was never able to learn from them, desperate to learn there secrets, I started using your cookbooks and reading your magazines. Now I am an urban legend, baking for friends, family, kids events. I love the ohhhs and ahhhs from my baked goods. Thanks to you! I would love the Blue Ribbon Desserts cookbook. kristie.golden@gmail.com Thank you.

I'd love the Light and Healthy cookbook. K found your blog through the ATK facebook page. I'm a Cook's Country and Cook's Illustrated subscriber and most of the recipes I use come from one of their publications. You can contact me through my blog, turkowfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com

Just headed over here via the ATK Facebook feed and immediately subscribed when I saw that your previous recipe was for Thai chicken! I follow via RSS and I have to admit that I worship at the feet of the ATK scientist/cook brigade and would love to have a copy of the Light & Healthy 2011 cookbook! My e-mail addy is havinsomecarrots at gmail. Thanks, and I look forward to trying some of the delicious-looking recipes you've got cooking here...

I saw your blog today as AMTK put a post about you on their page today. So now I am following you through Google. The brownies look amazing. I LOVE to bake. My dream job would had been a pastry chef...but I settle by just making pastries for my family and friends. I wouldn't mind winning The Blue Ribbon Dessert Cookbook. Would you make me a happy baker? Thank you!

Hi! I heard about your blog through a post on FB from ATK. I now follow you on Google Reader.

Love to bake - used to have my own small business, Cakebox Cookies, where I specialized in decorated sugar cookie favors. I bake all things dessert though. Pursuing RN degree at the moment and would love to take a break from studying to read a new cookbook. The Blue Ribbon desserts cookbook would be awesome. You can contact me through my email: kelli@cakeboxcookies.com

I "found" you via the ATK link on my Facebook page. Like you, I'm addicted to ATK and watch it/record it when it is showing on my local PBS station (unfortunately, not every week). I just read your Raspberry Cheesecake Brownie recipe to my wife and just the reading pushed our blood-sugar readings over the top. Therefore, if chosen, we would love the Light and Healthy cookbook as an antidote, although, i suspect I will be making up a batch of your brownies. They look to good to totally avoid.

Thanks to a Facebook post from ATK, I found your blog, and was happy to subscribe to your RSS via Google. A baking enthusiast, I'd love to have the Blue Ribbon Desserts book. Can't wait to poke around your site and see the other goodies you've got waiting for me!

This is the first time I've read your blog through ATK on Facebook, but it won't be the last! And I am going to try those amazing brownies-what more could you want in a dessert...chocolate, rasberries, and cream cheese!

Just added your blog to my.yahoo page--looking forward to seeing Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies and whatever else you cook up show up when I open my browser! All three ATK cookbooks sound great, I'd love all of them! But since I'm such a baker I think Blue Ribbon Desserts would be at the top of my list.

Love those brownies! I'm going to make them the next chance I get. Really can't decide which book i'd like to win, they all sound great. But since I must choose one I guess it would have to be the Light and Healthy cookbook. (for the sake of my waist) I follow you now (thanks to ATK's link on facebook) on google. You can reach me at Chefmaria83@yahoo.com

Definitely going to have to give this recipe a try (so say my kids!)! Found your blog via America's Test Kitchen post on FB, btw, and following via Google Reader. I'd love a chance for the dessert book, and you can contact me @ www.larksongknits.com or on Salt of the Earth Urban Farm on FB. Thanks!!

Noticed your blog through the ATK Facebook post, and knew I should visit it immediately. Anyone who likes ATK/ Cook's Country/Cook's Illustrated is my kind of person. Just signed up for RSS thru Yahoo, and am looking forward to seeing you every time you post. If I should win the cookbook, I would love to have the One Dish Suppers. YUM.

I found you yesterday @ foodgawker and I love your blog. I can't wait until tomorrow...I'll be making the Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies. Yeah!!! My three favorite tastes in one decadent bite ... hmmm. I'm a dessert girl and would love to win the Blue Ribbon Desserts Cookbook. Have a wonderful weekend.

So awesome. Chocolate and raspberries and cheesecake. I made CI's cheesecake brownies for New Years and they were amazing!I follow on Google Reader.I want them all! But to save on dishes, we'll go with The Best One-Dish Suppers.

i found your blog thru ATK Facebook and I am following you thru MyYahoo! I really enjoy the ATK recipes, all of them! I would love to have the Blue Ribbon Desserts Cookbook. The brownies look fantastic. Can't wait to prepare them. ;0)

I found your blog through the Kitchn site and plan on making these babies for girls night Bunco on Saturday! I'm following with Google Reader and would love the Light and Healthy cookbook. You know, to balance out the brownie overdose I'm planning.